My son who is a music teacher was getting ready to take the chorus caroling to all of the class rooms at his school. He gave me a ziplock bag for each class room and asked me to put 25 candy canes in each bag so that the chorus could give every child and teacher a special treat. As I counted them out, I pushed all of the broken ones off to the side.
At the end of the day, I wondered what to do with the broken candy canes. I popped one into my mouth, and it still tasted great despite being broken. I remembered one of the students telling me that they were going to make fudge and sprinkle crushed candy canes on top that evening. The broken candy canes would be perfect for that. Not only would they taste good, but the peppermint would look pretty too.
The broken candy canes made me think about all the “broken” people I have met. I know people who have been hurt or abused to the point that they have very low self-esteem and can’t see themselves as the beautiful person they are. I can think of people who are so overwhelmed by sorrow, grief, anxiety and depression that they can’t function properly. I have met people who can’t see their wonderful qualities because they are consumed with beating themselves up over the things they aren’t good at. I have listened to people who have bought into a lie that because they are broken, they have no worth or purpose.
My prayer for these broken people is that they would turn to Jesus and find their strength, healing, identity, confidence and purpose in him. I want them to remember that God knit them together in their mothers’ wombs and that they are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139). I want them to know that the Lord who said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9), can use their weaknesses to display God’s power as well. I pray that they would learn that they have a God “who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God” (1 Corinthians 1:4). I pray that in their brokenness, they will turn to the One whose body was broken and whose blood was shed and that they will lay down their lives and find comfort, healing, peace and purpose in him.